TIMEFRAME FOR SUBMISSION OF PROOFS OF ORIGIN UNDER EVFTA IS NOW ANNOUNCED

On January 25th 2021, The Ministry of Finance announced Circular 07/2021/TT-BTC regulating the timeframe for submission of proofs of origin for imports under EVFTA between Vietnam and EU. The Circle is specified as follows:

1. Customs declarants must submit proofs of origin at the time of implementation of customs procedures under the provisions of point a of clause 1 of Article 7 in the Circular No. 38/2018/TT-BTC dated April 20, 2018.

2. If the proofs of origin is not available at the time of implementation of customs procedures, in order to be entitled to special preferential import tariffs: The customs declarant must enter “late submission” in the import declaration and may submit it later within its validity duration but not more than 2 years from the day on which the import declaration is registered.

3.  The General Department of Customs is accorded authority to decide the application of the special preferential tariff if the customs declarant submits the proof of origin after the above effective time due to force majeure or other legitimate reasons beyond the control of the importer’s control or in other late submission cases. In the other cases of late submission, goods must be imported within the validity period of the proof of origin.

This Circular is taking effects as of March 11th, 2021.